Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prolonged Season Is Mixed Blessing
PRAIRIE GROVE — The overlap between fall football and winter boys basketball is a mixed blessing for Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston.
Edmiston learned last season, several athletes may not be available until the third week in December as Prairie Grove advanced to the state 4A football championship game Dec. 12. The same situation could potentially be presented again this season.
“We have five football players coming,” Edmiston said. “They will all have a role, for sure. It’s a good problem to have. It puts us behind a little bit. The good thing for me is I’ll have a year of experience with that and be able to adjust.”
Prairie Grove graduated nine players from last year’s team, including 6- feet-7 center Dylan Soehner, now playing football at Iowa state. Edmiston is optimistic about progress made in the off-season.
“A lot of guys came out in the off- season,” Edmiston said. “We have a pretty good core, a good nucleus to work with.”
“I like our athleticism, we will not be a team like last year,” Edmiston said, referring to an inside-the-paint offense oriented around Soehner.
“We’ll be pretty versatile,” Edmiston said. “I think we’re going to be a pretty good shooting team. I think we’ll be able to do some different things.”
The Tigers aren’t real tall, but have a bunch of players in the 6-1 and 6-2 range.
“We don’t have a 6-feet-6 in the house, but I think from a versatility standpoint, we’ll be able to move people around more than last year.”
Edmiston noted changes to the format of the basketball season this year with regular season competition among a blended 3A/4A District-1, then competing in a District 4A-1 tournament.
“It will be interesting with the restructuring of the district tournament this year,” Edmiston said. “This year there are no automatic berths (into the regional tournament). All eight (4A-1) teams will play in the first- round. There will be four winners in the first- round advancing to the regional tournament. It’s going to be interesting. That’s something we haven’t done in a long time.”
One factor Edmiston favors is playing a second season in the brand new gym.
“I have no complaints, it’s everything we wished for,” Edmiston said. “There are no glitches, no things we wish we would have done differently. The facility proved itself last year when we hosted the district and regional tournaments.”
As far as the 4A-1 goes, Edmiston sees Pea Ridge, Huntsville and Shiloh Christian as contenders.
“I think Pea Ridge is not only top in our conference, but around the top in the state,” Edmiston said. “Everybody’s looking at them, they have everybody back.”
The Blackhawks also have Farmington transfer Matt Thomas. Edmiston said Huntsville will be solid and Shiloh Christian could be improved with a second year under coach Skinner.
“They really made a lot of strides as well,” Edmiston said.
The Tigers (without their football players) hosted Huntsville and came up one-point short in a 47-46 loss. Huntsville came in with the advantage of having played a prior game (a Nov. 12, 54-41, win over 6A Siloam Springs), but the Tigers took the game down-to-the-wire despite 26 points by 6-feet-3 Huntsville senior Jack Eaton, who put the visitors ahead in the final minute at the foul line. The Tigers were hit with a double- whammy when their leading scorer, Cameron Simmons, fouled out after scoring 14 points. The Tigers couldn’t find the hoop after falling behind and were forced to foul. Huntsville couldn’t cash in leaving an opportunity but a driving shot by Prairie Grove’s Derek Pearson wouldn’t fall and time expired with Huntsville winning, 47-46.